I talked to Mom yesterday. I asked her how she was doing. She said she was grumpy. This caught my attention, because that's not what I usually hear from my lively 80-year-old mother.
Her knees were hurting, and she had some annoying dental problems. And it was her day to vacuum the floor, a chore she dislikes. So she went into her closet, pulled out the tiara she keeps for just such occasions, and put it on. Thus ennobled, she found the fortitude to do what had to be done.
Picture, if you will, an octogenarian grandmother pushing a vaccum around her carpet while wearing a band of fake jewels around her head. That would be my mom. In our family, she is indeed the queen. I'm proud to be a member of her royal lineage.
In my grumpy moments and darker days, I would do well to follow her example. And to recall the words of the Psalmist: "When I look at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast established; what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou dost care for him? Yet thou hast made him little less than God, and dost crown him with glory and honor." (Psalm 8) Despite all that goes badly for us, and all that we do badly to others, we humans are still Godlike creatures. Especially when the going gets tough, it's time to take out our tiaras, dust them off, and put them on.
There are so many of us on this planet that we often take the human race for granted. Or we compare ourselves negatively to others, and disparage our dignity by thinking less of ourselves than our Source intends. This not only dampens our appreciation of life, but it can be a dangerous thing. What's more threatening than a person who disrespects his or her own life? What's more frightening than a community or nation of people who feel like their pride has been denied them?
But if we treat others royally, and if we are secure in the knowledge of our own nobility, then our homes and work-places can become palaces of peace. Even if we're the ones pushing the vacuum cleaners around their floors!
Thanks, Mom, for remembering who you are. And thanks, Your Highness, for reminding me of who I am, as well...